President La Jerne Cornish

La Jerne Cornish speaks after being named the 10th president of Ithaca College on March 7 in the Emerson Suites. Ash Bailot/The Ithacan

FORMER PROVOST LA JERNE CORNISH APPOINTED IC’S 10TH PRESIDENT

BY ELIJAH DE CASTRO

La Jerne Cornish has been named the 10th president of Ithaca College.

David Lissy ‘87, chair of the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, announced in an email to the campus community that the board had voted unanimously to name Cornish as the 10th president.

“I write to you today with great pride and joy to announce that the Ithaca College Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to name Dr. La Jerne Terry Cornish as president of Ithaca College,” the email said.

Cornish has served as the college’s interim president since Aug. 30, 2021, after the college’s ninth president, Shirley M. Collado, resigned. The email said the board believes her character and leadership as interim president qualify her to become president. Prior to serving as interim president, Cornish was the college’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs and later as executive vice president from July 2018 to August 2021.

“She has a thorough grasp of the challenges before us and is ready to work collaboratively with the members of the IC community on campus and around the world to ensure that we lean into the signifcant opportunities that we have to secure a bright future for Ithaca College,” the email said.

Before working at Ithaca College, Cornish served as an associate professor at Goucher College from 1998 to 2018 and the associate provost for undergraduate studies at Goucher College from 2014 to 2018. Cornish has a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture from University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The email also stated that the search committee for the college’s 10th president had unanimously recommended Cornish out of a competitive feld of candidates.

“Through this highly competitive process, performed with the utmost attention to the current and future needs of the campus, the search committee unanimously recommended to the board that Dr. Cornish be named IC’s next president,” the email said.

During her time at the college Cornish has been involved in the creation and implementation of Ithaca Forever, the college’s fve-year strategic plan. As provost, Cornish’s division was also in charge of the Academic Program Prioritization process, and she and Collado approved the “Shape of the College” document that has resulted in the ongoing elimination of 116 full-time equivalent faculty positions and a number of departments, majors and programs.

In the email, Lissy invited the campus community to attend a livestream at 12:15 p.m. March 7 to introduce Cornish as the college’s new president. Additionally, an informal reception was held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. March 7 in the Emerson Suites.

BY ALEXIS MANOREWhile many members of the Ithaca College community are happy to have a president who is familiar with the college, some are raising concerns about the presidential search process.

David Lissy ’87, chair of the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, announced March 7 that the board unanimously voted to name La Jerne Cornish as president. She had been serving as interim president since August 2021 after President Shirley M. Collado resigned. Collado brought Cornish to the college in 2018 to serve as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. In summer 2021, Collado then promoted Cornish to provost and executive vice president. Collado then proceeded to step down from her position and served as adviser to the board of trustees and interim president and became president and chief executive offcer of College Track in January 2022.

During her time at the college, Cornish spearheaded the implementation of Ithaca Forever, the college’s fve-year strategic plan, and she oversaw the beginning of the Academic Program Prioritization (APP) process, which is currently in its second phase. The frst phase has resulted in the ongoing elimination of 116 full-time equivalent faculty positions and a number of departments, majors and programs. Both Cornish and Collado approved the “Shape of the College” document in February 2021, which provided the recommendations for the cuts.

Dave Fleischer ’91, chair of the Presidential Search Committee (PSC), spoke about the committee’s timeline and process. The search was offcially launched Sept. 17, 2021, when the board of trustees announced the creation of the PSC. The committee then partnered with Isaacson, Miller, an executive search frm, to aid in the presidential search.

In response to the decision to partner with an executive search frm, the college’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released a statement expressing concern about the lack of transparency regarding the decision to use a search frm, the fact that the board of trustees and the search committee rejected the AAUP’s call for shared governance and that the search was not declared open or closed. The PSC and the board of trustees never disclosed whether or not the search was open or closed.

Fleischer said Isaacson, Miller conducted outreach to about 300 prospective applicants, and the committee conducted full interviews